Giving music an Arabic flavour- Scales and progressions

[I'd Rather Play]

Hi there,

I'm trying to create some (western) music with an Arabic flavour. I've been experimenting with the Double harmonic major scale. This scale with it's flattened 2nd and 6th gives an instant 'Arabic' flavour to riffs and melodies. My problem is I can't find any standard chord progressions that fit this scale. Any suggestions for chords and progressions?

Or am I making things difficult for myself?

Looking at typical Turkish modern pop, such as Tarkin's Simarik (Covered by Holly Valance as Kiss Kiss). The signature riff certainly sound ethnic/eastern to my ears but is just taken from the Am scale over chords from the same scale. What is giving it that flavour?

[Richie Royale]

I certainly don't know much about the scales but I've found that a small amount of pitch bend can help make sounds a bit more arabic/eastern.

[Goddard]

Search for info on "arabesque" music. Not "arabic" really, but how western composers have interpreted it.

[alexis]

Hi there,

I'm trying to create some (western) music with an Arabic flavour. I've been experimenting with the Double harmonic major scale. This scale with it's flattened 2nd and 6th gives an instant 'Arabic' flavour to riffs and melodies. My problem is I can't find any standard chord progressions that fit this scale. Any suggestions for chords and progressions?

Or am I making things difficult for myself?

Looking at typical Turkish modern pop, such as Tarkin's Simarik (Covered by Holly Valance as Kiss Kiss). The signature riff certainly sound ethnic/eastern to my ears but is just taken from the Am scale over chords from the same scale. What is giving it that flavour?

I have a song in Cm, with Fm and G7 prominent (think Besame Mucho), and I had come up with a descending sequence for the instrumental break I always thought of as very Middle Eastern sounding, wondering if I would ever find a droney kind of woodwind to fit it.

My son told me it was a Harmonic minor scale, nothing exotic at all. But doing some reading after you posted, apparently the Harmonic minor ..."is also occasionally referred to as the Mohammedan scale[2] as its upper tetrachord corresponds to the Hijaz jins, commonly found in Middle Eastern music. The harmonic minor scale as a whole is called Nahawand-Hijaz[3] in Arabic nomenclature, and as Bûselik Hicaz [4] in Turkish nomenclature. And as an Indian raga it is called Kirwani." (From Wiki, "Harmonic Minor".

Long way of saying there's another scale for your Middle Eastern flavor!

[tacitus]

We learnt at school that the 'ungainly' augmented second in the harmonic minor scale is, shall we say, 'oriental'. Nice western music uses the melodic minor scale to keep all intervals as tones or semitones.

As for harmony, I tend to think of it as being a bit more drone-oriented, and the gaps filed in with lots of percussion. The craze for so-called 'Turkish music' in the eighteenth century was rationalised in the West as being western harmonies but with bass drum, cymbal and triangle liberally applied.

Doesn't the shape of the monody in religious chants have particular meanings, too?

[Vaud]

Hi, I am trying the same project...did you have any luck?

[Exalted Wombat]

Hi there,

I'm trying to create some (western) music with an Arabic flavour. I've been experimenting with the Double harmonic major scale. This scale with it's flattened 2nd and 6th gives an instant 'Arabic' flavour to riffs and melodies. My problem is I can't find any standard chord progressions that fit this scale. Any suggestions for chords and progressions?

Write the melody. Write the bass line (or maybe a drone). Don't worry about chord progressions as such, though one may emerge. Music doesn't HAVE to have a guitar strumming along all the time.

[TheReson8or]

I have a great compilation album called Turkish Freakout (I know), but some of that stuff will give you great ideas. Dave

[Johnny Stecchino]

Check out:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckkutTafU0
and this one
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejU7Okua5Sk

and this one for inspiration:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmW4JstY9lM

[Reiknir]

Looking at typical Turkish modern pop, such as Tarkin's Simarik (Covered by Holly Valance as Kiss Kiss). The signature riff certainly sound ethnic/eastern to my ears but is just taken from the Am scale over chords from the same scale. What is giving it that flavour?

Dual bends is one technique, some Turkish sting instrument players bend the melody line with both hands, and many Turkish synth players emulate this by bending the pitch with the wheel and the filter or other frequency component with a breath controllers. A few have a two and three wheel left hand technique which is a sight to see, I can barely use one wheel at a time......

Turkish scales are microtonal as well see: Mus 2 page and try the demo, it is interesting and not all that expensive

[Airfix]

are u for sure? I cant believe even frauds would work this way

[Reiknir]

Try this for wheel and breath controller combis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SomramXPo0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bugmUIsBg-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVWc69SeDM8

[RemoHead]

This is way outside my area of expertise so please correct me someone if i'm off the mark but I worked with a arabesque project recently, composing original music, the basic approach we used was using the Phrygian mode, basically STTTSTT (S-semi tone, T-whole tone) as someone also pointed out, the music is micro tonal so pitch bends, coupled with the mode gave a nice authentic flavour. From the scale, for arguments say D Phrygian I then worked out the key signature.

I hope this helps.

Remo.

[Melody7]

players emulate this by bending the pitch with the wheel and the filter or other frequency component with a breath controllers.

I have a breath controller and I can confirm it's possible.

This guy does a great job playing virtual sax with his breath controller and wheel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUJBW9w_MQo

[Pabs]

Hi there,

I've been experimenting with the Double harmonic major scale.

My problem is I can't find any standard chord progressions that fit this scale. Any suggestions for chords and progressions?

Or am I making things difficult for myself?

Have you tried to build triads or seventh chords on each degree of the scale and see what you end up with? Or if you want to go down another road you could use stacked 4ths/5th intervals

[djames123]

This book had some really good ideas mate

...and was spam, so I deleted the link MW

Seven links advertising the same book!!

[permanent_daylight]

No one mentioned 24-tet scale? Arabic music is based off quarter tones, rather than semitones. Adding these in the right way instantly will give those scales talked about arabic flavour.

you might include a neutral second (between major and minor) and neutral third. It seems these neutral intervals (so second, third, sixth, sevenths played in between the usualy major/minor) really add the flavour here. You can also try major fourths for example, bending a quarter up. Often the result of imitations are they sound too much like a harmonic minor, really they should be neither minor or major sounding...